Harris formally responds to Blunt’s records request
Several years from now, some enterprising reporter is going to be listening to war tales about this whole e-mail tiff that’s been ruffling feathers lately. The reporter is going to get an idea to file a new sunshine request, asking for all related documents, from each of the story’s principal actors. That reporter is going to have a lot to wade through.
Last Friday, another document was added to the heap. It’s a formal response from Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, to a request from Gov. Matt Blunt’s office for Harris’ e-mail records dating to 2003.
In the letter, which was hand-delivered to Trish Vincent, Blunt’s chief of staff, Harris mentions a longstanding House opinion that individual members are not public bodies themselves, and thus do not fall under the Sunshine Law.
“Without addressing whether that position is correct, I am nevertheless willing to produce the records that are responsive to your request,” the letter reads.
Vincent’s original missive contained a phrase alluding to the House opinion: “I am confident that you will agree the act applies to you.”
Harris says the request would encompass roughly 70,000 pages of documents and 5,000 e-mails. He says the copying fees and labor costs would run about $10,000.
He ends the letter with, “If you are inclined to narrow your request for more specific records, it would reduce substantially the time and cost of responding to your request.”
Vincent’s request sought the following:
-Every e-mail sent to or from the e-mail address “jeff.harris@house.mo.gov” since January 2003;
-Copies of all e-mail back-up tapes or other storage mechanism for the e-mail address “jeff.harris@house.mo.gov” since January 2003;
-Every document created on a state of Missouri owned computer assigned to Rep. Jeff Harris or a member of his staff since January 2003; and
-Every document received by Rep. Jeff Harris or a member of his staff pursuant to law or in connection with their official duties since January 2003.
LMAO!!!
Can we just file this under the category of “I told you so”???